MHS show choir to present diverse, action-packed performance

It’s a new season for Friend de Coup members, and they’re ready to show Mitchell what they’ve got.

The Mitchell High School show choir will perform its competition routine at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the high school auditorium. The show is free and open to the public.

Friend de Coup opens its competition season next Saturday in Omaha. It’s taken a lot of hard work and long rehearsals for the 75-member group to perfect the routine, which director Chris Miller said is vastly different from last year’s show and any previous MHS show choir performance.

“We’re using innovative staging, cutting-edge costuming and the music selection is altogether different,” he said. “This show is jam-packed with action from start to finish and should keep the audience on the edge of their seats the entire time they are watching.”

A more dynamic show takes more work, though.

“This show is more challenging on every level,” Miller said. “You have to do that for these kids. They’ve had pretty good success over the past few years. You have to come at them and challenge them more than the previous year.”

Friend de Coup was named grand champion at the FAME Orlando Show Choir Competition in Orlando, Fla., in March. The group also received grand champion titles at its season-opener at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Quad-State Showcase in Sioux City, Iowa, and the Clash of the Titans in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Friend de Coup received multiple other awards including best band, choreography, a people’s choice award and stage and tech crew honors.

Winter weather hindered several day-long rehearsals, putting Friend de Coup about 15 hours behind schedule, so extra practices were squeezed in during the school week.

But, as senior Derek Wahle said, “Success is all about the hard work.”

And Miller, as well as Wahle, expects the same success as last year.

Because Friend de Coup was so successful last season, senior Brianna Bernard said the judges will be more stringent this year.

“We’re going to need to one-up it from last year,” she said.

Miller added that a large group of veterans will provide the necessary leadership needed to continue success.

More than half of the 75 participants in Friend de Coup are seniors or juniors, he said.

Although the show choir won’t attend a national contest this year, Miller said with the caliber of groups they will watch perform at their five performances, it will be “just as good of an experience as if we went to a national competition.”

Tags: friend de coup, mitchell high school, show choir, chris miller, life